In My Time

Summary: Thank you Marauder by Midnight for the banner Isabella Marie Swan and Edward Anthony Mason were just sixteen and seventeen before they met, their destinies never seeming to cross paths. Living in the very outskirts of Chicago, Bella doesn’t want to be married as quickly as society wants. Edward wants to help assist President Wilson by fighting in the World War. Plans seemed to all change when, unexpectedly, with one little spark, a fire seemed to ignite the both of them. Through troubles beyond comprehension, the times of properness and society, influenza on the rise, and abhorrent losses- perhaps even their own deaths, the two of them must concur them all. But can they? A love story to the fullest-but of course, even the best love stories have tragedy and losses nestled inside. (2nd most favorite on the site! Thanks guys! Also-In My Time was on display in Waterstones Bookstore, located in Oxford,United Kingdom for a twilight event)

Notes:
- alright, I have a VERY good feeling about this story, and I am hoping you will too. Disclaimer- I own nothing, I just write fan fic, and I love doing it :)

13. Catastrophe

I wandered into the stables, where my father was. It had been three days since I had been over at the Mason’s house for dinner. I sighed and leaned against the door of a new horse that I didn’t recognize. My father walked over to me, just noticing me on his way out. He set a lit lantern down on the ground. There wasn’t any electricity in the barn.

“Ah, Bella-stay away from that new horse. We just got him in yesterday, but the poor thing hasn’t been calm since.” My Father warned as I leaned against the new horse’s stable door.

“Perhaps I can make him more comfortable.” I said, reaching out so that I could touch the horse’s face.

“Careful, darling. Don’t go into his stable, whatever you do.” Father said to me as he walked back towards the house, “Oh, and Bella!” he called.

I looked towards him, “Yes father?” I called.

“Your mother and I are going downtown, to the bank. Don’t try and look for us in the house.” he said.

“Alright.” I said back to him. I was left alone with the horses. It was nearing dark, though the clouds made it look darker than normal. Any moment it would rain, and I would have to run through it all to get back to the house. I looked back to the horse, sighing again.

“You’re confused, aren’t you?” I asked the horse. His big dark brown, almost black eyes stared back at me. He probably had no idea where he was.

“That makes two of us.” I said to him. He kept looking at me as I looked back, than I added, “Until, that is, you look in his green eyes and see something that you have never seen in anybody before... you see love. But how in the world are you supposed to stay calm and level headed when your wedding is being talked about constantly and it’s in 3 short weeks?” Mostly, I was talking out loud to myself. The horse stared back at me still. I had come out here to get away from my mother; everything was ‘wedding this' and 'wedding that’. It was driving me insane.

“Whatever will we do with you, if you cannot stay calm?” I asked him.

“You look calm to me, if that counts for anything.” I added, as I pet his face again.

Suddenly, he sneezed, which made me automatically pull back and jump. He backed up into the corner of his stable before coming back to the door. He neighed once at me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him. I peered over him to look at his food supply-there weren't many oats left for him.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you?” I smiled, “That, my dear horse, I can fix.” I said, walking over and picking out a few carrots and more oats. Really, maids and stable keepers were meant to do this, but every now and then I enjoyed it too.

“I need to come inside.” I told the horse, even though he probably could not understand a word I was saying.

I opened the latch of the door and went inside, hearing something fall as I did so. I went in, even if it was against my father’s wishes. But the horse seemed calm enough. I laid the food down and turned around to walk out. Suddenly I saw orange flames rise higher in front of me, I could hear crackling. I knocked down the lantern! All I could do was stare blankly ahead. Smoke raised into the air as the horses inside of the stable started to become frantic.

That included the horse that was next to me.

“No, calm down.” I tried to shush him, but he neighed and went on his hind legs, which knocked me down on the hard floor. I screamed as the horse came down, right on my ankle. There was a loud snapping noise before I felt even more pain. I cried out again.

I couldn’t walk. And now, though most of the horses had found a way to run out of the stables, smoke was so heavy that I couldn’t see. I could hardly breathe. Instead of orange flames, all I could see was the thick, dark gray smoke enclosing me. The last thing I saw was my engagement ring, sparkling fiercely from the light of the flames.

~Edward Mason’s point of view~

“Hello, Mr. Swan, Mrs. Swan.” I said to them, for they had just walked into my father’s bank. Sometimes I came to the bank to help my father or to just relax someplace other then my home, where Collin and Leo could walk in….

“Edward, how lovely to see you again, and so soon.” Mrs. Swan said to me.

I smiled, “I trust everyone is well.”

“Yes, of course.” Mr. Swan said to me. I had the feeling he didn’t strongly oppose of me, he was just wary that his little girl was getting married…as all fathers are. I wondered if I would ever be in his place, standing next to my wife-Bella-talking to our daughter’s future husband…I fought a shudder. I wasn’t ready to think such thoughts so soon.

“I wonder, is Ms. Swan with you on your outing?” I asked them.

“No, she was in the stables when I left her.” Mr. Swan said to me. A wave of disappointment washed over me. Mrs. Swan seemed to notice.

“But, you are welcome to go see her if you wish so.” She invited.

“Thank you. Forgive me, but I must go.” I said to them. They nodded as I headed out of the bank and towards Bella.

Suddenly there were loud bells and shouting to get out of the way. I looked behind me towards the commotion, as many around me did. A fire truck came driving down the road.

“Don’t turn right.” I whispered, still walking, though faster than normal. If that fire truck made a right, the only house and farm to go to was the Swan’s.

And indeed…it turned right.

“Bella.” I whispered frantically. Horror stricken, I broke into a run down the side of the road, not bothering to ask people to move politely.

“In a rush, Edward?” Collin asked me, meeting up with me. Somehow he kept up with my speed. I usually ran faster than most.

“Its Bella, she might be in danger.” I panted as I kept running. As we both turned onto her street you could see a huge cloud of black smoke in the distance. No, please Bella, don’t be in that fire, I thought.

And then I knew as we got closer- the only girl I loved and would ever love was inside the fire. For the fire was in the stables, exactly where Mr. Swan said he left her.

“Bella!” I yelled as we kept running. She could be hurt. She could be…she could be de-. No. I would not think another thought like that until I found her.

“Excuse me, gentlemen you are not prohibited to come any cl-” I cut the fireman off of his warning.

“My fiancée is in that fire! There is nothing in this world that is going to stop me from going and getting her!” And that was all I said as I ran past the men and towards the fire. Somehow I could feel that she was in the fire-every fiber of my being was telling me so.

“Edward, what are you doing?” Collin asked me, his face showing pure shock.

“I’m saving her.” I answered, throwing my jacket at him. The stable was now totally taken up by orange and red flames. Though most of the horses seemed to be out in the field.I ran into the barn door, not knowing what I was doing. A heat wave ran into me, smoke made me cough as I walked inside. Almost right next to me a piece of black and burning wood fell from the ceiling. The barn would soon collapse.

“Bella?” I yelled, coughing. My eyes scanned the barn floor, but I couldn’t see much. The smoke was making my eyes water and my vision blur.

“Bella?” I screamed again. I looked inside some of the stables, or at least what was left of them. Wood pieces continued to fall around me.

On the other side of the barn, firemen began to pour water on the scorched wood.

“Bella?” I called again. And still, no answer. I looked in one more corner; almost about to lose hope as brown hair caught my eye.

“Bella?” I yelled again, walking into the stable. Sure enough, with black smudges on her porcelain face she was laying there on the ground. She looked like she was hurt; she was unconscious. I didn’t waste any time before I picked her up in my arms. Then I ran to the door, hoping that flames did not cover my entrance. They did, but I got there just in time to hop over them. Then I ran away from the barn, still holding Bella in my arms. Collin stared at the barn, his eyes wide, as a huge crashing sound echoed through the area.The barn had collapsed, a second after we had both come out of it.

I laid her on the soft grass and tried to catch my breath. A fire man came over and patted my back after handing me a glass of water.

“Ed, what’s on your shirt?” Collin asked me, kneeling down next to Bella, like me.I looked down at my shirt to find something red. What could it have been?

“Blood.” I muttered before looking at Bella’s arm, the one that had touched me in that spot when I was carrying her. There was a deep cut, and blood was falling onto the grass. As I looked more closely, it looked like she had cuts and bruises all over her.. It looked as though a horse had trampled her. I moved to check if she had a pulse. Please don’t be dead. I thought frantically. I breathed a sob of relief-she was still alive.

“Look at her ankle.” Collin said to me. I looked over at it; it looked completely broken; there may have even been an open fracture.

“Collin, run and get Dr. Cullen. If you run into Mr. and Mrs. Swan tell them to come home. Do it quickly.” I said to him urgently as he nodded.I tore my shirt sleeve off, wrapping it around her arm. It was the only thing I could do at the moment to stop the bleeding. I brushed Bella’s hair out of her face gently. The fire men were still working on getting out the fire when Dr. Cullen and Collin ran up to me, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Swan. The Swan’s faces were in complete shock, and then Mr. Swan pointed out to Mrs. Swan where I was kneeling. They both came running.

“Was she trapped inside the fire?” Dr. Cullen asked me. I looked up at him- he was the new doctor in our area. He was paler then anyone I had ever seen, his eyes were a bright topaz, almost golden. He had dark purple bruise like rings under his eyes, as if he hadn’t gotten any sleep lately (though he was probably with a lot of patients from the influenza)-and his teeth were completely white. He had blond hair as well. Then I realized that this was the doctor Leo was complaining about the other day; Leo had been saying that every girl would fall for him which left the rest of ‘us’ out of luck. He wasn’t panting, even after running.

“Yes.” I said quickly. Rain started to pour on us.

“We’ll need to get her inside.” He gestured to her house. I nodded, picking her up carefully. Her head was lolled to the side of my neck as we walked quickly to her house.

“Will she be alright?” Mr. Swan asked Dr. Cullen.

“She has a pulse, but I won’t know anything until I can take a closer look at her.” Dr. Cullen answered.

“My baby.” Mrs. Swan whispered. She was shaking, so Mr. Swan put his arm around her. We walked upstairs in her house, and to Bella’s room. I had never seen it before. As I set her down on the bed gently I looked around; books took up a major part of the room. There were some old pictures too. A wooden dresser with a mirror was on the wall across from her bed, and there was a door on the left of the dresser that looked like a closet. On the left of her bed was a small table with ‘Wuthering Heights’ lying on it as well as a lamp. On the farthest wall to the left another table was there with a pair of gloves lying neatly on top of it with various things setting on top of it. Every other wall space available a book shelf was built in-it looked like a small library. Everything was perfect, just like Bella. I looked outside of the window-her room overlooked the farm and the road. I could see smoke still billowing in the air.

That was the view my Bella looked out to every morning, with the exception of the smoke.

I looked to her again, as a maid laid a cold cloth on her forehead, as directed by Dr. Cullen. Would my angel be able to still look at that view after today?